LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Big Valley Groundwater Sustainability Agency and Big Valley Groundwater Sustainability Plan Advisory Committee have released the draft groundwater sustainability plan for the Big Valley Groundwater Basin for public review.

The Big Valley Basin Draft Groundwater Sustainability Plan, or GSP, is now available for review during a formal 21-day public comment period that ends Dec. 3.

The GSP is being prepared pursuant to the requirements of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014, or SGMA, which was amended in 2015.

Deputy Water Resources Director Marina Deligiannis told Lake County News that the Big Valley Draft GSP is the first and only draft GSP prepared for Lake County as required by SGMA.

She said Lake County has only one priority basin, Big Valley Basin (5-015), a “medium” priority basin as identified under California Department of Water Resources Bulletin 118.

Bulletin 118 is the state’s official publication on the occurrence and nature of groundwater in California. An updated version of the plan was just released this week.

In 2018, the state was considering the reclassification of the Upper Lake groundwater basin as a priority basin, but after efforts from the Lake County Water Resources Department, Department of Agriculture and Farm Bureau to update the irrigated acres in the basin, the state dropped the classification to “very low,” Deligiannis said.

On April 13 the county brought on Luhdorff & Scalmanini, Consulting Engineers, and Stantec Consulting Services to develop and implement the Big Valley GSP, she said.

“Since then, the team has been hard at work to develop the GSP with anticipation of GSP adoption by the SGMA deadline of Jan. 31, 2022,” Deligiannis said.

County officials offered the following suggestions for providing written comments.

• When submitting comments, please include the Draft GSP section number to which you are referring, along with any line numbers that relate to the content you are referencing. Each section is labeled, and you will find line numbers on the left side of each document.

• If you have comments on tables or figures in the Draft GSP, please provide the number and title for tables and figures you are referencing.

• If you have multiple comments, please organize them by section.

• Please also note, any comments submitted become part of the public record.

All comments on the Draft GSP must be submitted by Dec. 3 in one of three ways:

• By email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Please include “Draft GSP Comments” in the subject line.

• By postal mail: Big Valley Basin Draft GSP Comments, c/o Lake County Water Resources Department, 255 N. Forbes St., Room 309, Lakeport, CA 95453.

• In-person drop-off: Water Resources front desk, Big Valley Basin Draft GSP Comment, Attention: Lake County Water Resources Department, 255 N. Forbes St., Room 309, Lakeport, CA 95453.

If you have questions regarding the Draft GSP public comment period, or if you have any issues accessing the Draft GSP files, contact Water Resources at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or at 707-263-2344.

You can find all GSP-related meetings, including meeting agendas, presentation materials, and recordings, in the archive here.

To receive updates about GSP development and future implementation, sign up for the Big Valley Basin GSP Interested Parties list here.